Returning back to the simulation, Shiro saw that she was just in time for the boss to load up.
“You alright mum?” Yin furrowed her brows. She had tried to call for Shiro but she didn’t respond.
“Ah yeah don’t worry. I was just thinking about something.” Shiro smiled.
“For this ‘boss’, it’s not going to be a boss but rather a shooting test. Each of you will face a shooting board and we will be testing you on how many targets you can destroy and how accurate you are.” The observer explained as a shooting range appeared in front of them.
Hundreds of targets were floating in the air as some would move around unpredictably. Since they were floating in the air, one would need to either jump up or fly for them to hit the targets at melee range.
“We’ll have each of you stand up to the platform and attack the targets. You can either melee them if you want or attack them with magic. As long as you’re able to destroy the targets, the test will proceed.”
Once he finished saying what he needed to say, the observer teleported Isaac onto the platform since he was ranked 1 for the previous two tests and had the highest ‘points’.
Swinging his sword a few times, Isaac nodded his head and calmed his mind. His breathing became stable as his eyes focused on the targets.
‘Hm… when he’s not being a pervert, he’s quite admirable.’ Shiro thought in praise. The act of getting himself into the right mindset earned several praise points from Shiro but was immediately deduced because he was Isaac.
A timer appeared above him as it counted down from 3.
Once it reached one, several targets lit up with a red glow as Isaac pierced out with his sword.
The blade of his sword flickered with several reflections, as if a mirror had just been shattered on the blade, and shot out a blade of energy towards the targets.
*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Half of the targets were pieces instantly as there was a clean hole through the centre.
‘A long ranged skill huh? Unfortunately, seems like it’s still a bit limited since he couldn’t stab all of them.’ Shiro analysed.
Stabbing out once more, Isaac was able to pierce the second half with relative ease.
[Round 1 pass]
Taking a deep breath, Isaac readied himself once more as the second round was able to begin.
All of the rounds up to round 5 were just normal target practice. However, the time he had to pierce the targets slowly decreased as he progressed. By the time he reached round 4, he was missing a few targets due to the distance and the lack of time to pierce them.
At round 6, targets started to move around as Isaac had to try to predict their movements. This limited the amount of attacks he could output since he had to focus on multiple things. He could activate his sword domain but the range of his domain couldn’t reach the targets.
“Tch.” Clicking his tongue, he tried his best but started to miss more and more.
Barely passing round 6, he wasn’t able to complete round 7 since the targets were simply too hard to hit. Not only were the time allowed to try hit them small, but he needed to register all of their locations as well as predict their movements. And this wasn’t accommodating for time needed for the energy to hit the targets either.
*sigh…
“Unlucky I suppose.” He smiled slightly and was teleported off the platform.
“Don’t worry Young Master Isaac, this test is primarily aimed for mages. For you to be able to reach round 7 with a decent amount of accuracy and speed is commendable.” Alura praised.
“Thank you.” Isaac nodded and accepted her praise despite being frustrated at himself.
‘I need to obtain a few more long ranged skills in case of any unfavourable situations in the future.’ He thought to himself.
Looking at Issac’s score, Shiro understood that he did relatively well. Unlike mages, he couldn’t change his attack’s flight path mid travel so he had to analyse the situation better. Once the moving targets came into play, he had basically lost.
Ignoring Isaac for now, Shiro turned her attention to Alura since she was ranked second. As a mage that focused on firepower, her defence and speed were subpar so this kind of test was perfect for her.
Flicking her arm out, several orbs of fire revolved around her.
“Go.” She commanded as they shot towards the targets.
Analysing her spell, Shiro noticed that it seemed to be a mark and locate type spell. Alura would mark a target down and the orbs would locate the said target, destroying it in the process. While her analytical abilities were lower than Isaac’s, her skill made up for the gap.
Unfortunately for her, the orbs didn’t care about what was in the way so while her she couldn’t miss, she had to be careful of hitting the wrong targets.
But despite this problem, she was still able to reach round 9.
Since her rank was 5, there were two others in front of her before it was her turn. Yin was rank 4 so it was her turn soon.
The next person in line was able to reach round 8 but had hit too many wrong targets so his overall score was similar to Isaac’s.
“Fufu~ It’s finally this baby’s turn.” Yin grinned as she stepped forwards.
“Good luck.” Both Shiro and Lisandra encouraged.
Teleporting on the platform, Yin cracked her knuckles and created several Dark Star Spears.
“I can’t be exactly like mum but I can try.” She smiled.
Once the timer hit zero, she sent the spears shooting towards the targets.
Smirking slightly, she clutched her fist and split the spears into several pieces which stabbed different targets.
Shiro was speechless at her attempt.
‘She just hit everything she could see!!!’ She cried out in her mind. That’s right, Yin didn’t even bother looking at which one was one as she just sent a spear at all of them.
“Why are you acting like that when you can’t even hit them accurately?” Shiro facepalmed as she looked away.
Yin only reached round 3.
“So what do you think?” Yin asked with a bright smile.
“Ignoring your accuracy, the spell was good. The mana distribution is acceptable and each spear was almost identical. Good job.” Shiro forced a smile as she learned from her past actions.
“Hehe~ Then treat me to a buffet next time.” Yin grinned.
“Oi, don’t take it too far.”
Since Yin had finished her attempt, it was naturally Shiro’s turn.
Teleporting up to the platform, she summoned all 7 copies of Ataraxia and smiled confidently.
“Unlike my foolish daughter, I don’t speak nonsense.” She chuckled softly.
Waving her fingers, she activated the Light Element Shift.
Looking at the golden glow that radiated off of the sword, Shiro gripped her hand.
‘In my life, not only did you betray me, but you also killed me. However, as your enemy, I have to admit that your control over the light element was by far the best. You shall become my stepping stone to tier 8.’ She thought as she concentrated the aura around her sword.
Pinching her fingers, a small spark of electricity and light started to fuse together while three swords rotated around them.
[3… 2… 1… 0!!!]
Snapping her fingers, the spark exploded as a ray of light was redirected to all of the glowing targets. Before anyone realised, the swords had already travelled along the light path and returned to her side.
[Round 1 passed!]
“What!!” The observer cried out in shock as he slammed his palm onto the console.
“Ridiculous! How could she do that!?!” He shouted while constantly replaying that moment.
Once the timer hit zero, she had ‘loaded’ her swords and fired them off like a gun. Similar to what Isaac does when he saves a stance, her sword then retraced the flight path and reappeared beside her.
However, unlike Isaac, her attack was almost instantaneous and the accuracy was incredible. All of the swords hit the centre without missing at all. It was almost as if she had copied and pasted the wound on the targets since they were the same.
“Unbelievable…” Kier muttered while looking at the scene. He could tell that in the short moment she ‘fired’ her swords, there was so much more going on. While he couldn’t see the minute details, he could tell that it wasn’t an easy feat to pull off.
Looking down at his hands, he wondered if he could do the same should he be given the same tools as her. But the only answer he thought of to that was impossible.
“Who is she…” He narrowed his eyes. He wan- no, he NEEDED to find out.
